Literature Review #2

Citation:
Yarrow, Andrew L. Thrift: The History of an American Cultural Movement. Massachusetts: U of Massachusetts, 2014. Print.

Summary:
The book, specifically Ch. 5 "The Philosophy of Thrift," gives background into the mindset of someone who thrifts and lives minimally. The idea of thrift arose in the 1920s during Calvin Coolidge's presidency. WWI had just ended and while Americans tended to spend freely and live extravagantly, President Coolidge preached thrift in order to live within one's means. Thrifting does not mean pinching every penny made; saving all of your money defies the principle of thrift. Thrifting means to spend money where necessary and to save when possible, a strategy that author Andrew L. Yarrow deems "wise-spending."

Author:
Andrew L. Yarrow - Former New York Times reporter and U.S. History teacher at American University. Has written a number of books, including Measuring America: How Economic Growth Came to Define American Greatness in the Late Twentieth Century and Forgive Us Our Debts: The Intergenerational Dangers of Fiscal Irresponsibility.

Quotes:
"A broad definition of thrift embraced hard work, saving, and frugality, a call to spend and use resources wisely, an antipathy to waste, a strong belief in self-control, a similarly strong belief in industriousness, a call for generosity, a sense of responsibility to others, and an ethic of conservation, stewardship, or husbandry of resources" (Yarrow 66). 

"Profligacy, extravagancy, waste, debt, inefficiency, sloth, dependence, lack of self-control, the inability or unwillingness to plan for the future, loan sharks and those peddling fly-by-night investments were all seen as dangers to individual and social well-being and thus the enemies of thrift" (Yarrow 67).

"'Thrift is the exercise of the will, the development of stamina, the steadfast refusal to yield to temptation,' Straus wrote. This rigorous self-control was viewed as essential to good character, and even successful democratic self-governance, as President Coolidge declared" (Yarrow 70).

"Wise spending meant seeking value, whether in terms of prices or long-term benefit, buying useful necessities or things that would enhance one's physical, mental, and moral well-being" (Yarrow 70).

Relation to my topic:
The concept of thrift and wise-spending provides me the frame of which college students should live within. College students, with their limited funds and extensive debt, should monitor their spending habits and thrift to some extent. By applying the thrifting concept in my essay, it allows me to introduce the case of Ken Ilgunas, who demonstrated a radical form of thrift by living out of his van during graduate school.